FRIES — Local artist Chad Tate and his crew of maniacs have created a truly terrifying haunted house at the Fries Recreation Center this year.
The Scream Asylum opened Oct. 19, with a massive “Pumpkin King” greeting visitors outside the rec center, complete with a light-up head Tate carved out of a foam block. The wood and chicken wire monstrosity also billows smoke from its head.

Brian Funk

Chad Tate's team of haunted house helpers stand with the "Pumpkin King," which towers over them on the front yard of the Fries Recreation Center. The ambitious haunted house is loaded with special effects and characters in custom-made costumes and make-up.

Tate has put his professional-grade sculpting, makeup, prosthetic, painting and design skills to use to create a haunted house experience complete with a radioactive zombie zone, a sticky-webbed spider room, torture chambers, killer clowns, swooping banshees, claustrophobic caves and much more.
Tate said it takes a team of about 30 actors and technicians to portray characters and run the effects. Tate himself will be the “mad scientist” in the torture chamber.
This is the third year Tate has guided the project, and he and a team of 20 to 30 people have been working since Labor Day to turn the rec center’s gym in a winding labyrinth of frights.
Proceeds from ticket sales help fund the center’s youth programs.

• The Scream Asylum is open Oct. 26-27 and Nov. 2-3. Times are 7-11 p.m. on Fridays and 6-11 p.m. on Saturdays. On Halloween, hours are 7-10 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids age 10 and under.